Society to put on a really big shoe

When Oliver Ward, a Grafton tanner, arrived here in 1809 with his wife and son, he did not consider himself a visionary or a pioneer, simply a man eager to make a good life for his family.

In fact, his home and three-story shoemaking factory, built in 1810 on the banks of Forget-Me-Not Brook in Spunky Hollow, was the seed of an industrial revolution that has paralleled the town’s 200-year history.

The influence of boot- and shoemaking here, from Oliver Ward’s early venture to the successful Quabaug Corp., exclusive U.S. manufacturer of Vibram soles, will be the focus of a 200th anniversary event beginning at 10 a.m. tomorrow in the elementary school.

Linda Grace, curator of the North Brookfield Historical Society museum, and James Buzzell, author and historical researcher, have combined to create a “virtual museum” in the school hallways dedicated to boot- and shoemaking.

At 11 a.m., there will be a presentation in the auditorium with guests Kevin Donahue, chairman and CEO of the Quabaug Corp.; Herbert Varnum, former Quabaug CEO and chairman from 1988 to 1994; Francis C. Rooney Jr., chairman of H.H. Brown of Greenwich, Conn.; and John W. Learnard, former senior vice president of Knapp Shoes in Brockton.

Ms. Grace said the research she and Mr. Buzzell performed found the town was essentially agricultural before the arrival of Mr. Ward, and a business making “extra shoes,” that is, shoes that would be sold beyond the boundaries covered by itinerant shoemakers.

Until that time, shoemakers would travel from home to home, using locally tanned hides to custom-make a family’s footwear.

According to the two researchers, the Ward factory produced 65,000 pairs of shoes in 1832 with a cash value of $52,000.

Four years later, the value of 24,170 pairs of boots and 559,900 pairs of shoes manufactured in all factories in town was calculated at $470,316.

Shoemaking swelled the population nearly 38 percent between 1820 and 1836.

And then with the national financial panic of 1837 it all came crashing down, with all of the shoemakers out of business save for Freeman Walker, whose factory hung on until 1842.

A rebound was inevitable with the abundance of talent, and Ms. Grace and Mr. Buzzell found that the E. & A.H. Batcheller & Co. prospered during the Civil War despite the secession of the Southern states, where many of the “made in North Brookfield” shoes had been sold.

By the late 1800s, the Batcheller factory was labeled as the largest shoe factory in the country.

Since 1916, the Quabaug Corp. has been making rubber products, building upon the legacy of Mr. Ward and the Batchellers, establishing itself as the town’s largest employer.

According to the company’s website, Quabaug teamed with Vibram in 1965, when the focus of its business became the manufacture of technologically superior rubber soles.

Quabaug is the largest supplier of outsoles to the U.S. armed forces, with a workforce of more than 300.